Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 84864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
She was the epitome of nobility, of grace, of centuries of breeding.
She was also as trustworthy as a fucking pit viper.
“You asked to see me, my king?” She dropped into a curtsy, sinking low enough to raise my eyebrows. What a well-trained little snake.
I couldn't help but wonder if my king’s mating mark was still falsely tattooed on her skin, or if she’d gone through the rather painful procedure to have it removed after Lyric had shown up and claimed Alek’s heart…and his mark.
“Please, sit.”
Cassandra rose just as gracefully as she’d dipped, and her dark eyes widened slightly as she saw me in the chair. Then she swallowed and sat in the chair next to me. The look on her face was…resigned.
She knew what was going on.
Interesting.
“Have you given thought to what we spoke about earlier?” Alek asked.
“I have,” she said, nodding once. She folded her hands in her lap and kept her spine ramrod straight.
“And?” Alek prodded as Lachlan crossed his arms across his chest.
“I’ll do it,” she said with a note of certainty that told me she’d pondered his request. It wasn’t just off the cuff. “If Warrick says that Edward has been making use of our family home from time to time, then I believe him.” She eyed the papers on the desk. “I’d like to not believe that Edward is involved in any of that, but I’m willing to journey home for a…sabbatical, and ferret out the truth. I’ll report back as agreed.”
“Good.” Alek nodded.
“Sending you doesn’t mean we trust you,” Lachlan stated, his eyes narrowing on Cassandra.
“I’m well aware that you have Warrick to assure my compliance,” she seethed, color rising in her cheeks.
Damn, the female was exceptionally stunning when riled.
I made note to rile her at the earliest opportunity.
“We’ll be sending someone with you to report back and keep you…loyal,” Alek said, watching her in a way that told me he was monitoring more than her body language.
“And how do you think that would go over with Edward?” Cassandra blinked, but that was her only physical reaction. “Oh, I’ve come home to vacation, and happened to have brought a hunter with me?” She arched a perfectly sculpted dark brow.
Lachlan pressed his lips together and smothered a laugh.
Alek glanced at Cassandra’s panther and I cursed, the pieces of his plan falling into place as I took a deep breath.
“You have to be fucking kidding me,” I said to Alek.
Cassandra glanced at me, then our king. “Him? You want me to spend months with him?” Her voice pitched upward.
“Why not?” Alek shrugged. “He is from an ancient, noble family. He knows the rules of aristocracy better than almost anyone—”
“He loathes me!” She gripped the arms of the chair.
So she could lose her temper. How…enticing.
“She’s not lying.” I laced my fingers together in my lap, keeping my composure. “I don’t exactly hold her in high regard.” Months with Cassandra Zorin? Behind what were obviously enemy lines? Gods, we were just as likely to kill each other as we were to discover anything.
“See?” Cassandra said.
“He’ll control himself,” Alek promised on my behalf.
“Eh…” I lifted a corner of my mouth in a slight grimace. “Let’s not make promises I’m not sure I can keep.”
“And just how do you expect him to be accepted at my family’s home? By my family’s servants? He’s a giant red flag where Edward is concerned!” She was white-knuckling that chair, now.
“Because I won’t be going as myself, will I?” I asked Alek. There was only one reason it was me sitting in this chair and not Zachariah, or anyone with more years in service.
Cassandra shot me a look that would have withered a lesser male. I, however, was not a lesser male. I was a fucking hunter, trained for years in the execution of bloodmad vampires, and an aristocrat in my own right—if I really felt like pressing it…which I didn’t. “And just who do you think you’ll be going as?” she asked me, pursing those red lips.
Was that lipstick? Or was the color natural? Would she leave a lip print on my—
“Well?” she asked, jarring me from my wayward thoughts.
“My guess is that I’ll be going as her.” I glanced past her to the panther sitting at her side, currently cleaning herself with massive paws. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d posed as the panther, but usually that was just to fuck with Cassandra.